# EPBC-YOLOv8: An efficient and accurate improved YOLOv8 underwater detector based on an attention mechanism

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.05788 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.05788/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 9 Feb 2025.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Improve Underwater Object Detection through YOLOv12 Architecture and Physics-informed Augmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.23505/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In this study, we enhance underwater target detection by integrating channel and spatial attention into YOLOv8's backbone, applying Pointwise Convolution in FasterNeXt for the FasterPW model, and leveraging Weighted Concat in a BiFPN-inspired WFPN structure for improved cross-scale connections and robustness. Utilizing CARAFE for refined feature reassembly, our framework addresses underwater image degradation, achieving mAP at 0.5 scores of 76.7 percent and 79.0 percent on URPC2019 and URPC2020 datasets, respectively. These scores are 2.3 percent and 0.7 percent higher than the original YOLOv8, showcasing enhanced precision in detecting marine organisms.